Saskatchewan winters tend to sneak up quickly. It’s possible that you could be operating your vehicle for at least five months of the year in winter driving conditions.

According to SGI, the period from November to March is when most collisions occur. The main cause is failing to adjust to existing conditions.

It takes time to change from your summer driving techniques. Here’s a short reminder to heighten your winter driving skills and make sure everyone makes it to their destination safely.

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Traction varies tremendously with temperature changes. Icy roads will look just the same at -2C or -22C, but will be far more slippery at the warmer temperature.

During the first few snowfalls, drive very slowly and keep a five-second following distance between the vehicles ahead of you. This allows for room to brake or maneuver the vehicle safely should a situation arise.

Travelling around in the province during icy road conditions means gentle acceleration, gentle braking and small, smooth steering movements on icy roads to avoid skidding and losing control of the vehicle.

Apply gentle consistent pressure when braking instead of slamming them, as they will lock causing you to slide. Always look where you want to go and steer that way.

Brake normally if the vehicle has an anti-lock braking system (ABS). Additionally, SGI advises motorists not to use cruise control on icy or slippery roads.

Drifting snow, whiteouts and frosted windows may severely limit visibility for you and other drivers. The easiest way to fight this is to remove all snow and frost from the windows, headlights and taillights.

If the vehicle gets stuck in deep snow, try rocking it back and forth by gently accelerating until the wheels spin and then reversing in the opposite direction until enough momentum is gained to keep moving.

In addition to demonstrating safe driving skills, having a well-stocked roadside emergency kit could save your life. Supplies to think about getting include: a shovel, blankets, matches, a candle and a tin cup, food, a snow brush, ice scraper, booster cables, chain or tow rope, flashlight and flares.

The 16-year-old was hanging out with friends on October 24 at the Macs in Windsor Park when two men approached the car she was in and shot through the window, hitting Vanderaa, missing her heart by just inches.

She spends most of her days in bed and takes a short painful walk down her apartment hallway twice a day. She said she’s taken a lot for granted.

EXCLUSIVE: Winnipeg girl shot with stolen RCMP gun speaks publicly

“The simple things like walking, taking a shower, being able to eat anything and now I can barely eat a whole muffin,” Vanderaa said.

After a rash of recent shootings in Winnipeg, some wonder if gun crime is on the rise in the city.

In November alone, there have been five shootings, one was an officer involved shooting where Winnipeg police shot and killed Mark DiCesare after a 40 minute pursuit. Witnesses said he was waving a gun around while being chased by police.

READ MORE: Man shot by Winnipeg police was depressed: Friends

“There’s been a cycle of a lot of shooting,” said Criminal Justice Professor at the University of Winnipeg, Michael Weinrath.

October 30, 49-year old Camille Runke was shot and killed allegedly by her ex-husband who she had a restraining order against.

CALGARY – A publication ban against naming two Calgary parents charged in the death of their infant child has been overturned.

Jeromie and Jennifer Clark are charged with criminal negligence and failing to provide necessities of life for their infant son, John, who died in 2013 when he was 14 months old.

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In recent weeks, media outlets have been prevented from reporting on the case including the names of the accused and the charges they faced after a publication ban was granted at the request of defence lawyer Pat Fagan.

Global News was among four media outlets who applied to remove the ban. In a written decision handed down Tuesday, Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Jo’Anne Strekaf ruled that Provincial Court Judge Mark Tyndale made an “error of jurisdiction” in granting the ban.

Justice Strekaf found that Fagan did not have standing to represent the interests of the victim in the case and there was no evidence presented explaining how publishing the name of the victim or the accused “might be weighed against the deleterious effects of the ban on the free expression of those affected by the ban.”

A publication ban related to the content of the preliminary inquiry remains in place.

READ MORE: Calgary parents charged in baby’s death granted bail

The Clarks have been ordered to stand trial in the case.

Police previously said the Clarks’ child died one day after being brought to hospital suffering from a staph infection that wasn’t treatable due to complications from malnutrition.Investigators have said the family has strict dietary restrictions based on their faith and nutritional beliefs.

“We have no indication that he (the infant) had seen a doctor since his birth and the child was not born in hospital,” Staff Sgt. Doug Andrus said last December.

“The family took steps to conceal his condition from family members. And it was only after the realization by a family member that the infant was sick [that] they were advised to take him to hospital.”

OTTAWA – A former overseas commander says if Justin Trudeau’s beefed-up training mission in Iraq is to succeed in a timely manner he’ll have to consider allowing Canadian troops to accompany local forces on operations in limited circumstances.

Retired lieutenant-general Stuart Beare says advising and assisting local forces – essentially classroom training – is valuable, but the ability to able to follow those students to the field is important to ensure lessons have been learned.

Prime Minister Trudeau says the country’s CF-18 warplanes will be withdrawn from combat before March and replaced by a more-robust training mission, although many of the details are still being worked out.

Beare, who is now a fellow at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, but also served as the deputy commander of NATO’s Afghan police training mission, says he’s convinced the U.S-led coalition as a whole will have to “evolve” towards allowing western troops to accompany Iraqi and Kurdish forces if it wants to dislodge the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant in a reasonable time frame.

REGINA – Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI) is hoping to streamline the way people can do their auto claims, so people can get back in their vehicles faster. SGI and the auto body industry have teamed together to try and speed up the claim process.

Customers will now be able to have their damage estimate and repairs completed at one shop.

“SGI recognizes insurance claims are not planned for; dealing with the claims process takes valuable time from our already busy days,” said Don McMorris, the minister responsible for SGI .

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“SGI is making things easier for customers, by providing an option to streamline simpler claims, so vehicles can get back on the road sooner.”

Around 20 repair firms in the province are already doing damage estimates and the majority of accredited repair firms are expected to be estimating by the end of the year.

READ MORE: Is that used vehicle you are about to buy been in a crash?

Claim filing will remain the same for customers and when it’s time to get the damage estimate done, they will be asked where they want to go. Their adjuster will let them know whether their chosen firm qualifies to perform damage estimates.

“It’s a one-stop shop,” McMorris said. “The repair firms can help improve the customers’ claim experience and customers get their vehicles fixed faster and back on the road. It’s a win-win, which is why we’re so excited to give Saskatchewan residents this new option.”

Each year, there are more than 200,000 auto damage claims in Saskatchewan.

NEW YORK – A Swedish psychologist’s self-published picture book about a sleep-deprived rabbit has been acquired by Penguin Random House after becoming a word-of-mouth sensation.

A new edition of Carl-Johan Forssen Ehrlin’s The Rabbit Who Wants To Fall Asleep will come out in paper in the U.S. and the U.K. on Oct. 2 and as an e-book Sept. 8, the publisher told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

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Billed as a groundbreaking story that “gives suggestions to the child’s unconscious mind to sleep,” Ehrlin’s book features such soporific helpers as Uncle Yawn and Sleepy Snail and has inspired an international debate over its effectiveness. The Rabbit Who Wants To Fall Asleep was illustrated by Irina Maununen.

Originally released in 2011 and translated into English by Ehrlin a year ago, the book this summer soared into the top 10 on Amazon苏州美甲纹绣培训 and Barnes & Noble苏州美甲纹绣培训, at times outselling such high-profile works as Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman and E L James’ Grey.

“It is an absolute joy for me to see the response that the book has received from parents all around the world, and it is something I never imagined would happen,” Ehrlin, 37, said in a statement. “I frequently hear from parents about how the story has helped ease their child’s bedtime and naptime routines, and I am so pleased to know that the book will now be able to reach, and help, even more families.”

Ehrlin also plans two more books with Penguin Random House; their content will be announced at a later date.

The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep will be published by Random House Children’s Books in the U.S. and by Penguin Random House Children’s U.K. Two audio editions also will come out on Oct. 2, one narrated by a man, the other by a woman.

WARNING: The following post contains images that some users may find graphic. Discretion is advised.

In just one day, Hungary’s main international train station descended into chaos, two ferries carrying 4,000 migrants left the tiny, overwhelmed Aegean islands where the migrants first came ashore and headed to the Greek mainland, and 1,200 people were rescued at sea.

Tuesday was punctuated by quiet moments as well: new arrivals in Vienna trying to get their bearings outside the train station, a shared dinner, a French grammar lesson.

Germany, where lines were orderly, expects to receive 800,000 refugees this year. Hungary, which says 150,000 have already arrived, abruptly refused to allow thousands to board northbound trains in Budapest, turning the area outside the station into a makeshift camp by nightfall.

Here’s a glimpse into Europe’s migrant crisis.

A young migrant’s hair becomes stuck while crawling under a barbed fence with her family at the Hungarian-Serbian border near Roszke, on August 27, 2015.

Attila Kisbenedek/AFP/Getty Images

Migrants walk through a field to cross the border from Greece to Macedonia near the Greek village of Idomeni on August 29, 2015.

Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images

A Syrian refugee flashes the victory sign after arriving on the shores of Lesbos Island in Greece in an inflatable boat from Turkey on August 23, 2015.

Achilleas Zavallis/AFP/Getty Images

A paramilitary police officer carries the lifeless body of a migrant child after a number of migrants died and a smaller number were reported missing after boats carrying them to the Greek island of Kos capsized, near the Turkish resort of Bodrum early Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2015.

AP Photo/DHA

Migrants charge their mobile phones at the Eastern (Keleti) railway station in Budapest on August 31, 2015.

A woman looks up at police blocking a group of migrants trying to cross the Macedonian-Greek border near the town of Gevgelija on August 21, 2015.

Robert Atanasovski/AFP/Getty Images

Syrian refugees and migrants along a railway line as they try to cross from Serbia into Hungary near Horgos on September 1, 2015.

Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images

Hungarian police officers face a group of Syrian migrants on the platform of the Kobanya-Kispest station, Budapest suburb, on September 2, 2015, as the refugees refused to board a train to the Debrecen camp.

Attila Kisbenedek/AFP/Getty Images

Syrian refugees and migrants are seen along a railway line as they try to cross from Serbia into Hungary near Horgos on September 1, 2015.

Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images

Riot police stand on train track as they monitor migrants and refugees at the Keleti (eastern) railway station in Budapest on September 1, 2015.

Attila Kisbenedek/AFP/Getty Images

Migrants and refugees crowd the platforms at the Keleti (eastern) railway station in Budapest on September 1, 2015.

PARIS – Eight people died in an apartment fire early Wednesday at the foot of Paris’ famed Montmartre hill, and police detained a man amid suspicions that it was started intentionally, officials said. Some died leaping out of windows to flee what appeared to be the deadliest blaze in the French capital in a decade.

The dead included two children, and four survivors were hospitalized, Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet told reporters at the scene.

Firefighters extinguished a small paper fire around after midnight in the building, then were called back two hours later for a much bigger blaze, fire department spokesman Gabriel Plus told The Associated Press. It’s unclear what caused both fires, and whether there was any link.

When the firefighters returned, Plus said, “We were immediately confronted with a disaster of an exceptional scale.”

People screamed for help from inside the building, several windows were blown out, and two people who had already jumped from windows were on the ground motionless, he said.

Brandet said the fire began in a ground floor stairwell. Plus said it quickly engulfed all five floors of the building and consumed several apartments and the stairwell, forcing people to flee out windows.

More than 100 firefighters were required to extinguish the blaze.

“I was sleeping and I heard cries of people calling for help,” said Florent, who lives in a different entrance of the same building. He spoke on condition that his last name not be used because of security concerns.

“I opened the door to see the damage … and I went to get a bucket of water in the panic. Then I reflected and thought the flames were too big to stop them by myself,” and instead called the fire department, he said.

A man was detained later Wednesday on suspicion of involvement in the fire, the Paris prosecutor’s office said, without providing further details. French President Francois Hollande issued a statement promising all necessary efforts “to shed light on the drama.”

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, asked whether it could have been prompted by electrical or gas problems, said the building had not had any previous problems and had been in good condition.

It was one of the deadliest fires in Paris since a 2005 fire in a hotel housing African immigrants that left 24 people dead including 11 children.

EDMONTON – Two people were taken to hospital after an upset customer pepper sprayed several people at a west Edmonton Walmart.

It happened Tuesday night, after a customer got into an argument with staff at the customer service desk at the Walmart in Westmount Centre, said Greg Winter, District Fire Chief with Edmonton Fire Rescue.

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“When you get it discharged at you full frontal it will completely disable you. You’ll have a very difficult time seeing and breathing. And in fact, your first thoughts when that happens are about your own survival and nothing else,” said Winter.

READ MORE: Edmonton police officer pepper sprayed after car chase

Two people who were hit directly were taken to hospital. At least 10 others standing nearby were also affected.

“Several were assisted by our crews as we helped to wash them down, get rid of some of the residue from the pepper spray.”

“There was quite a bit of irritation of breathing and eyes and that sort of stuff,” Winter added.

The store was evacuated while fire crews ventilated the building and washed down the customer service area to try and get rid of the “gross amount of pepper spray that had been discharged.”

The suspect fled the scene. Edmonton police are investigating.

Two people were taken to hospital after an upset customer pepper sprayed about a dozen people inside the Walmart at Westmount Centre in west Edmonton. September 1, 2015.

Global News

Two people were taken to hospital after an upset customer pepper sprayed about a dozen people inside the Walmart at Westmount Centre in west Edmonton. September 1, 2015.

Global News

Two people were taken to hospital after an upset customer pepper sprayed about a dozen people inside the Walmart at Westmount Centre in west Edmonton. September 1, 2015.

Global News

Two people were taken to hospital after an upset customer pepper sprayed about a dozen people inside the Walmart at Westmount Centre in west Edmonton. September 1, 2015.